Five Senses Garden Book

Activity Overview

A garden is a diverse living ecosystem that grows everyday, just like us! And just like we need love, attention, warmth, and water to grow and feel good, so do the plants in our garden! We learn about our world by using our senses to gain information and there’s so much to see, smell, taste, feel, and hear in a garden. What would it be like to spend some time in a garden of your own design that excites your senses? Today we’re going to plan for this garden by making a flip book to document our ideas.

What You Need

• A printout of the Five Senses Garden Book

• Scissors

• Hole punch and brads, or staples

• Crayons, markers, colored pencils, or any kind of writing utensil

Steps

1. Print out the Five Senses Garden Book – since it will be a flip book, you're going to cut the bottoms of most of the pieces off. You can choose to cut as you go, or cut all the bottom pieces off before you start.

2. Choose one to three examples of what you would experience for each sense and draw an image to represent what you imagine. Add as much detail as you can.

3. Assemble the book by placing the largest page (Looks like), face up, on your work surface. Place the next largest one (Feels like) on top of that and continue stacking with smaller and smaller pages. The last page is the title page (Five Senses Garden Book). Align them at the top and staple, or hole punch and insert brads. When you're finished, it will look like this.

4. Share your flip book with family and friends!

Guiding Questions

• What would you plant in your garden? Leafy greens? Root vegetables? Herbs to add to recipes? Bushes to attract hummingbirds?

• Focus on the sensory details: what would you smell, feel, hear, and see in your garden? Is there anything you might be able to taste?

• What else would you use to decorate and personalize your garden?

Extensions

• Add some words to describe each example. Some students may need adult assistance in writing the words. Encourage them to try to write as much as they can first – it’s ok if their spelling is wrong or their letters are inverted or backwards – this is all developmentally appropriate. The important thing is to encourage them to write!

• Did you know humans take in information from more than five senses? We also use our proprioceptive sense – our awareness of the position and movement of our body in space – when we use our muscles or bend and stretch our joints. We also use our vestibular sense – our awareness of our body balance and movement. Understanding of these senses and the information they provide our bodies and brains helps children play, work, regulate, and rest.